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Posted by Kate Butler Jan 20, 2007 |
Stephen Colbert, a former ‘news’ reporter on the Daily Show, has found a formula for success by imitating the style of opinionated conservative pundits. In particular, it is Bill O’Reilly, the extremely right-wing anchor and commentator on Fox News that Colbert parodies. In a somewhat unexpected act of not taking himself too seriously, O’Reilly agreed to have Colbert on his show, and to then appear on the Colbert Report.
The meeting between these two men last night was awkward, and seemingly difficult to understand. How would O’Reilly ever think that he could be taken seriously on a show that exists for the sole purpose of poking fun at news anchors like himself through imitation?
All in all, Colbert played his usual bombastic self, and mocked O’Reilly while pretending to celebrate him. Examples included trying to convince O’Reilly to sign a photoshopped picture of himself dressed up as a gay stripper, and a reduced-price sticker very prominent on O’Reilly’s latest book on the culture wars.
The distinction between so-called fake news shows, and the real news pundits such as O’Reilly, appears to be disappearing: spectacles such as the one seen last night shows just how ridiculous the mainstream opinion pieces truly can be.